Air-cooled condensation apparatus for locomotives



Jan. 19 1926. 1,570,106

R. WAGNER A IR COOLBD CONDENSATION APPARATUS FOR LOCOMOTIVES Filed March 5, 1924 Illll [Hill] I ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 19, 1926.

UNITED STATES- 1,570,106 PATENT OFFICE.

RUDOLF WAGNER, OF HAMBURG, GERMANY. ASSIGNOR TO THE SUPERHEATER COM- PANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

AIR-COOLED OONDENSATION APPARATUS FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

Application filed'March 3,1924. Serial No. 696,463.

To all who-71bit may concern: Be it known that I, RUDOLF lVAGNnR, a citizen of the Republic of Germany, resid- 7 ing at Hamburg,105 Bismarckstrasse, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Air-Cooled Condensation Apparatus for Locomotives, for which I filed an application for patent in Germany on December 22, 1921 and of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to air-cooled condensation apparatus for locomotives or the like, and especially to the manner of accommodating this: apparatus in a locomotive.

The object of the invention is to solve the double problem whicharises in steam locomotives driven by turbines and having the air-cooled condensers or coolers for the injection of cooling water arranged in front moderate, With the arrangements hitherto proposed and mostly taken from the art of motor cars or air ships and the like it is not possible to overcome these difiiculties.

In order to satisfy the above requirements, the area available at the front end of the locomotive is utilized for the reception of as large a volume of air as possible by causing the latter to enter through an aperture which is for the most part unobstructed, i. e., not occupied by cooling elements, in addition to which the velocity imparted'to the air over this cross-sectional area by the movement of the vehicle may be increased,

if desired, by any suitable form of blower,

as. for example, one or more air ropellers. This aperture is located at the i ront ofa channel, the walls of which converge inwardly for ashort distance and lead into a chamber of greater volume than said channel This chamber is defined by the wall of the locomotive body or shell and has its side wall portions open to the atmo here, the cooling or condensing surfaces eing located in I the open side walls. The condensers are thus disposed in a position where the air moves at the desired lower velocity and therefore with a small air resistance, while 1n addition the outward air currents due to the velocity of the vehicle exercise a certain amount of suction action, thereby assisting the movement of the air.

In the drawing some embodiments of the lnvention are shown .by way of example. Fig. 1 shows a longitudinal elevation, Fig. 2 a plan and Fig. 3 a front elevation respectively of one form of embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4 is a cross section of the cooling apparatus of a modification and Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a further modified form.

In the Figures l to 3 a special exam le of the condenser arrangement is shown or a locomotive in which a turbo-electric drive is provided for the driving wheels, in conjunction with an indirect withdrawal of the heat of the steam by a jet or water-cooled surface condenser and the use of a single air propeller in the front inletmaperture. Such a construction is shown in my co-pending application Serial No. 67 6,453. filed November 22, 1923. I

According to this example, the reference number 40 denotervthe commonenclosing body for the power and cooling installation,

41 the driving wheels, 42 the electric motors driving them, 43 a high-pressure water-tube boilerequipped with a suitable superheater, 44:, and air pre-heater, 45, and adapted for use with oil or pulverized coal; 46 is the inlet duct for the boiler combustion air, 47

the combustion chamber, 48 an electric enerator, 49 a high-pressure turbine, 50 a owpressure turbine, 51 a suitable transmission gear common to both these'turbines, 52 a jet or water-cooled surface condenser, 53 a recooler for the injection or cooling water used in the condenser 52, 54 the front air inlet, 55 an air propeller, 56 the motor driving it, for example, a small turbine ,with the necessary transmission. Further, 57 are guides for the air between the individual groups of coolers, 58 a front bearing for the air propeller shaft, 59 the outlet duct for the hot gases, and 60 tanks for the fuel or water. The re-cooler 53, as shown, com rises 11 pair of radiators arranged, prefera ly in parallel, one on each side of the locomotive and adjacent to the front thereof. These recoolers are connected as by the pipe lines indicated diagrammatically at 53' and 53 with the pump 53 and condenser 52 respectively. The pump 53 draws the condensate from the bottom of the condenser and forces it through the re-cooler from wh ch the cooled water is carried by the pipe 53" back to the condenser.

In the arrangement shown, the boiler combustion air duct, 16, is shown as a pipe having its front end extending into the chamber behind the front air inlet 51-, so that the forward travel of the locomotive will tend to produce an increased draft for the boiler.

Figure l shows in crosssection through the cooling devices a modification according to which the surface cooling in the cooler, 53, is assisted by rose sprays, 61, a part of the injection or cooling water being therebv tinelv divided and further cooled by partial evaporation. In this arrangement a certain loss of water occurs which has to be replaced from the tanks provided. On the other hand, there is the ad vantage that either a larger power can be obtained with the given air inlet, 5%, and the cooler, 53, or the aperture, 54,. can be smaller for a given power. I

in Figure 5, a further modification is shown in front view in which, with the object of decreasing the height of the inlet aperture, oi, the latter is flattened above and below and two air propellers, are ar ranged therein.

In addition to the examples described, the invention can be carried out or arranged in other ways, for example, other types of water-tube boiler, turbine and transmission gear, condenser or cooler, transmission gear to the driving wheels and so forth, can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention, while instead of oil or pulverized coal, it is obvious that the ordinary coal firing on a grate can be used; or instead of the boiler described with only one transverse upper and lower drum and one group of tubes, any other of the usual types for locomotives may be used. Further, in the case of locomotives in which the power, and quantity of steam to be condensed, are not too great, some of the condenser or cooling elements could be arranged in the air inlet aperture, 54, in order to decrease the length or height of the side condensers or coolers, and so forth. I

In some cases it may be advisable to condense the steam at a pressure above the ordinary condenser ressure and approximately equal to atmosp ieric pressure or even higher, while, for example, in the case of stationary condensing steam power lants the condenser frequently works wit a vacuum of about 80 to 90%. In this case the surface condenser or cooler can be made considerably smaller than when working with a hi h vacuum. Further the temperature of tie cooled air 'is higher and consequently more suitable for many purposes, such, for example, as heating interiors or for drying.

in all forms of my invention, it will be undersood that, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. the channel leading to the front aperture decreases gradually in cross sectional area and communicates directly with a chamber having a greater volume. By this construction, a Venturi effect is, produced upon the cooling air currents which results in the admission of a great volume of air, which volume of air is further increased by the suction effect of the outside air rushing past the sides of the shell of the locomotive. It will also be understood that in all forms of myinvention and as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the combined area of the effective openings for the outlet of the cooling air is much greater than the area of the inlet aperture 54, whereby a decrease in the velocitv of the air currents is obtained at the places where the air currents sweep across the cooling surface.

I claim 1. In a condensing system for steam locomotives, an enclosing shell or body defining a chamber located adjacent to the front of said locomotive, said shell being provided at the front thereof with an unobstructed aperture in comn'iunication with said chamber, whereby the forward travel of the locomotive will cause a current of cooling air to be forced into said chamber, and the side walls of said shell being provided with apertures communicating with said chamber whereby the outside air currents due to the motion of said locomotive will pro duce a suction effect upon the air passing through said front aperture to said chamber, and a condenser located within said chamber adjacent to said side apertures;

2. In a condensing system for steam lo comotives, an enclosing shell or body defining a chamber located adjacent to the front of said locomotive, said shell being provided at the front thereof with an unobstructed aperture in communication with said chamber, whereby the forward travel of the locomotive will cause a current of cooling air to be forced into said chamber and the side walls of said shell being provided with apertures communicating with said chamber whereby the outside air currents due to the motion of said locomotive will produce a suction effect upon the air passing through said front aperture to said chamber, a condenser located within said chamber adjacent to said side apertures, and guiding vanes adjacent to said condenser and side apertures to direct the air currents therethrough.

, ahead I 3. In a condensing system for steam locomotives, an enclosing shell or body defining a chamber located adjacent to the front of said locomotive, said shell being provided at the front thereof with an unobstructed. aperture in COlIlInUl'llCflt-IODWltll said chain-L duce a suction effect upon the airdpassing through said front aperture to sai chamber, a condenser located within said chamber adjacent to said side ap'ertures; and means located adjacent to said front aperture for forcing air into said chamber.

4. In a condensing system for steam iocomotives, an enclosing shell or body located adjacent to the frontjof said locomotive, said shell being provided at the front thereof ,with an unobstructed aperture, a frustro-conical shaped" channel leading from said a erture to said chamber and having the si e walls thereof converging towards. said chamber, and said chamber bein of greater cross sectional area than said c an nel, whereby a Venturi effect will be produced upon the air forced into -said aperture and channel by the forward-motion of said locomotive, said shell having its side walls rovided with apertures communicating w1th said chamber and a condenser located within said chamber adjacent to said side apertures.

5. In a condensing system for steam locomotives, an enclosing shell orbody rovided with a chamber having inlet an outlet a ertures in communication 7 with said c amber and arranged to cause a cooling cur-rent of,- air to be forced through said chamber by the forward travel of said 10- comotive, the effective cross sectional area of said outlet apertures being greater than said front aperture, whereby the velocity of the cooling air current adjacent to said outlet apertures will be less than at said inlet,

and a condenser within said chamber adjacent to said outlet apertures.-

6. In a condensing system for steam locomotives, an enclosing shell or body defining a chamber located adjacent to the front of said locomotive, said shell being provided at the front thereof with an unobstru'cted aperture in communication with said chamber, whereby the forward travel of the locomotive will cause a current of cooling air to be forced into said chamber, and the side walls of said shell being provided with apertures communicating with said chamber whereby the outside air currents due to the motion of said locomotive will produce a suction effect upon the air passing through said front aperture to said chamber, a condenser located within said chamber adjacent to said side apertures, and means connecting the boiler of said locomotive with said chamber to divert a portion of the air from said chamber to said boiler for combustion air. I

- 7. The method of working a locomotive steam turbine installation having a condensing apparatus arranged in front of the boiler installation (in the normal direction of travel) and along the sides of the locomotive, consisting in condensing the exhaust steam of the steam turbine at a pressure above the usual condensing pressure and not less than atmospheric pressure.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

RUDOLF WAGNER. 

